The tails of the swordsman's uniform made swooshing noises as he jumped from tree to tree, practicing his aerial strikes. Lon'qu was training to better his offense against flying units, and he had made decent progress. Although, after having been at this exercise for a few hours now, his legs were becoming weary. He decided to climb down and retire for the day.
Then he heard the flapping of leathery wings overhead. He looked up to see a wyvern without a rider.
"Strange," Lon'qu thought, "wild wyverns don't live in this part of the continent."
He could have let the beast fly off, but for some odd reason, Lon'qu felt the need to investigate. He followed the wyvern an open field, where it landed a few feet from her rider, Cherche.
"Hm, I should have known it was only Minerva," Lon'qu said to himself. He made to move back to camp before he notice what Cherche was doing. She seemed to be training, but she held no weapon in her hands. Instead, she attacked the air with various kicks and punches, elbows and knees.
The sight intrigued Lon'qu. Cherche's moves were strong and crisp, yet they flowed together so smoothly. He watched in awe as she threw a kick with her back leg and swung it through so that when she faced the front again she could lift her knee and throw another spin kick twice as high as the last. She followed with spinning elbow, a couple of jabs, and another sweeping kick.
Her form composed of so many jumps and spins that it looked like she was gliding on air. More impressively, she was moving this gracefully while she was still wearing her armor. Lon'qu wondered how high she could soar without it weighing her down.
A sideways knee-strike, a jump kick, and a chop leading into a crescent kick, Cherche continued her path across the field, and Lon'qu could have sworn she didn't need a dragon to take to the heavens. At the peak of her highest jump, Cherche threw a punch straight to the ground that would have easily split the skull of anyone that had the misfortune of being below her.
Afterwards, she promptly stood up, and brushed away any dirt that might have soiled her dress. She looked over at Lon'qu, and with a smile asked, "Enjoy my performance?"
Lon'qu inhaled sharply. So she had noticed him. But he regained his composure, the distance between the two too large to trigger his phobia, and he calmly replied, "I did not realize that you were putting on a show."
"I wasn't," said the wyvern-rider. "That was one of my training sessions. What you just saw was a style of martial arts that's been passed down in my family for generations. It was a secret art, until now."
The myrmidon gulped. "I apologize. I didn't realize that I had intruded on a…private matter."
Cherche breathed a light laugh and smiled. "Lon'qu, I think we all know that apology wasn't sincere. Even Minerva can tell that you're lying," she said, her dragon letting an ear-splitting roar at the mention of her name.
The wyvern and her mistress were right, though. He would have been sorry, had he not been entranced by the wyvern-rider's mastery of her family's art form. It was such a wonderful show of power and grace; Lon'qu couldn't feel guilty for watching it even if he tried.
But he wouldn't dare tell her what he just thought. It didn't seem to matter though, as Cherche seemed to read his thoughts anyways.
"Would you like me to teach you the art form?" she asked. "I know you well enough to know that you would just try to replicate it anyways. I figure I might as well show you the correct way to carry out the moves."
Lon'qu donned one of his rare smiles. "I would be delighted to learn from you." Then his face contorted as he suddenly shouted, "But only if you agree to teach me from where you are!"
Cherche looked over at Minerva with a sly grin. "My, my, that won't do. I couldn't possibly instruct him while he's all the way over there, hiding in the bushes like that. Could you fetch him for me, my dear Minervykins?"
The wyvern let out a roar as she went off to do as her rider asked. Lon'qu's eyes widened at the sight of the beast flying towards him, and he let out an unmanly yelp when she picked him up by his collar. The man struggled in the wyvern's grip, but his efforts were to no avail. Soon he was un-gently dropped a couple of feet away from the dragon's rider. Lon'qu stiffly rose while scowling at the beast. He could have sworn the dragon chuckled at him as it flew off.
"Lon'qu, you best not make such faces to my Minerva like that. After all, she could drop you from taller heights if she were to wish it," Cherche threatened with smile on her face.
"I would bet my pay that you'd let her do it, too," Lon'qu thought bitterly.
It was then he realized how close that blasted wyvern had dropped him towards her rider. They were only a couple of feet apart, and the realization had made the swordsman's blood run cold. He couldn't help it. Lon'qu leapt from his spot and jumped away so that the woman was on the border of his comfort zone. It was a miracle he repressed the urge to run away from the field completely.
Cherche let out a breath of laughter. "Well now that you're comfortable," she said, "shall we begin?"
Lon'qu looked over at her, grinned, and answered, "I'm ready when you are."
And with that their training began.